WILLIAM OF NANGLS (d. 1300)  , French chronicler, was a monk in the abbey of St Denis . About 1285 he was placed in charge of the abbey library as custos cartarum, and he died in June or July 1300 . Having doubtless done some work on the Latin manuscripts on which the Grandes Chroniques de France are based, William wrote a long Chronicon, dealing with the history of the world from the creation until 1300 . For the period before 1113 this work merely repeats that of Sigebert of Gembloux and others; but after this date it contains some new and valuable matter . William's other writings are: Gesta Ludovici IX.; Gesta Philippi III., sive Audacis; Chronicon abbreviatum regum Francorum; and a French translation of the same work written for the laity . Making use of the large store of manuscripts at St Denis, William was a compiler rather than an author, and with the exception of the latter part of the Chronicon his writings do not add materially to our know-ledge of the time . Both his chronicles, however, became very popular and found several continuators, Jean de Joinville being among thosewho made use of the Chronicon . This work from 1113 to 1300, with continuations to 1368, has been edited by H . Geraud for the Societe de l'histoire de France (Paris, 1843), and practically all William's writings are found in tome xx. of Dom Bouquet's Recueil des lzistoriens des Gaines et de la France (Paris, 1738–1876) . A French translation of the Chronicon is in tome Niii. of Guizot's Collection des memoiresrelatifs d l'histoire de France (Paris, 1823–1835) . See A . Potthast, Bibliotheca historica (Berlin, 1896) ; and A .

Molinier, Les Sources de l'histoire de France, tome iii . (Paris, 1903) . WILLIAM OF NEWBURGH (d. c . 1198), or, as he is sometimes styled, Guillelmus Parvus, English ecclesiastic and chronicler, was a canon of the Augustinian priory of Newburgh in the North Riding of Yorkshire . He was born about 1136, and lived at Newburgh from his boyhood . Shortly before 1196 he began his Historia rerum Anglicarum . This work, divided into five books, covers the period io66–r 198 . A great part of it is derived from known sources, especially from Henry of Huntingdon, Jordan Fantosme, the Itinerarium regis Ricardi, or its French original, and a lost account, by Anselm the chaplain, of the captivity of Richard I . The value of Newburgh's work lies in his estimates of men and situations . Except for the years 1154–1173 and the reign of Richard he records few facts which cannot be found elsewhere; and in matters of detail he is prone to inaccuracy . But his political insight and his impartiality entitle him to a high place among the historians of the 12th century . See the editions of the Historia by H .

C .

Hamilton (2 vols., London, 1856) and by R . Howlett in Chronicles of the Reigns of Stephen, &c . (" Rolls " series, 1884-1885), vols. i. and ii . In the latter edition a continuation, the Annales Furnesienses (1190-1298), composed by a monk of Furness Abbey, Lancashire, is also given . See also Sir T . D . Hardy's Descriptive Catalogue (" Rolls " series, 1865), ii. p . 512: and H . E . Salter in the English Historical Review, vol. xxii . (1907) .

(H . W . C .